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Broadcast Worldwide initiates broad based research programme

May 15, 2002

Rathikant Basu promoted Broadcast Worldwide which

Proposed Tamil Nadu Cable TV Act termed an anachronism of the Dark Ages era

Submitted by ITV Production on May 15, 2002

Cable TV industry professionals are aghast at the AIADMK-led Jayalalitha government‘s proposal to push through an act at the state level which basically overrides Central government legislation on cable TV.
Says the Mumbai-based head of a large MSO: "This is basically taking television back to the dark ages...it‘s an anachronism...it‘s almost as if administrative and royal might is all that counts...neither is the individual nor enterprise important."

According to legal experts, if the state government‘s legislation does get the governor‘s assent then it will be a constitutional violation because cable TV legislation comes under telegraphy which is a Central government subject.

And the state government is attempting to push through a local act at a time when the Central government has proposed an amendment of its Cable TV Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995 to incorporate conditional access systems.

There are other clauses within The Tamil Nadu Exhibition on Television Screen through Multi-System Operations, Video Cassette Recorder and Cable Television Network (Regulation) Act, 2002 which are rankling legal experts.

The act reportedly makes it compulsory for video libraries, cable TV operators to get an annual licence from the government. It gives the government the right to decided the number of subscriber connections a cable TV operator can provide in his area of operation and the price that can be charged.

Sources indicate that it is the intent of the Jayalalitha government to keep the limit per network at 100 subscribers, a level which is extremely unviable to run a multichannel operation. Additionally, it reportedly also seeks to disallow licensing of siblings of those who already have been licensed.

"This is a violation of an individual‘s fundamental consitutional right of freedom," says the legal expert.

Industry observers indicate that the Act is being introduced with the express intent of breaking the Sun Network‘s grip on the cable TV population in Tamil Nadu - it controls more than 70 per cent of the cable TV subscribers in the state. The Sun Network is backed by Kalanithi Maran - a scion of the DMK Party political leadership, which is the rival of the Jayalalitha-led AIADMK.

In 1997-98, the AIADMK government had attempted to set up a master control room with the support of local cable TV operators but the effort failed when the government changed. The Sun Network then went on to create Sumangali Cable Vision - which in turn forged alliances with several local cable ops to end up with a 70 per share of the market.

This is something which has irked Jayalalitha who has cable TV and satellite TV ambitions (she runs Jaya TV) and she is extremely eager to get back her piece of the cable TV action in the state and hence the new legislation.

Getty Images signs exclusive licensing agreement with CNN

Submitted by ITV Production on May 15, 2002

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Seattle headquartered Getty Images has announced that it will be the exclusive distributor of still images collected from CNN footage.
The company, which claims to be the leading provider of imagery and related products and services, says it has customers in more than 50 countries and that nearly 40 per cent of its revenues come from outside North America. The exclusive licensing agreement with CNN increases the number of news images Getty can offer to its editorial customers. The deal allows Getty Images to capture and license footage from all of CNN‘s networks including CNN, CNN Headline News, CNNfn and CNN International.
As part of the agreement, Getty Images will create stills based on relevant CNN television footage and make it available for high-speed electronic browsing, downloading and distribution on gettyimages.com. Customers can choose from stills of breaking news as well as of established and recognised CNN programmes and features.

Getty Images‘ news and sports photography of major news events such as 9/11, the ongoing overseas military action and the Olympics has appeared on the covers of publications including Time, Newsweek and The Economist. Getty Images is the official photographer or photographic partner to more than 40 major sports organisations including the International Olympic Committee and the NBA, the company claims.

CNN‘s reach currently extends to 16 cable and satellite television networks, three private place-based networks, two radio networks, wireless devices around the world and 13 websites, says the company.